This invention relates to screw conveyors for use in emptying elongated receptacles of particulate matter.
In the greenhouse, mushroom house and other indoor adjuncts of the food industry, soil, compost or other nutrient material of a particulate nature is placed in elongated receptacles or trays in which the mushrooms and/or plants are grown. When it becomes necessary to remove or replace the soil or other nutrient material (with mushrooms, the compost is spent and must be removed after each crop) it is incumbent upon the grower to retain in most instances labor to manually shovel the soil out of the trays. In the case of mushrooms, long, horizontal conveyors are placed in the aisles between stacks of mushroom trays and the mushroom compost is shoveled onto the moving conveyor belt for removal from the mushroom house. This is particularly difficult due to the relatively close vertical spacing between the trays and the otherwise confined working area that generally exists in most mushroom houses. These conditions are such that emptying the trays becomes a sheer time-consuming, back-breaking effort which requires a disproportionate amount of time even when labor is available. With today's labor market, this is not always the case.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for emptying elongated receptacles of particulate manner.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for emptying elongated receptacles of particulate matter which obviates many of the disadvantages of the prior art techniques.
A further object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for emptying elongated receptacles of particulate matter which apparatus is light and easily handled by an operator.